Lucky Baldwin

Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin (3 April 1828-1 March 1909) was a California horse racing and land development pioneer during the 19th century.

Biography
Elias Jackson Baldwin was born in Hamilton, Ohio, United States on 3 April 1828, and the family moved to a farm in Indiana in 1834. Baldwin had little formal education, and he later eloped with a neighbor girl when he was eighteen. In 1853, having become a successful businessman in Indiana, Baldwin moved to Gold Rush-era California, arriving in San Francisco after a rough journey. Baldwin was active in the lively real estate market, and he bought a livery, bought and sold goods, invested in the stock market, and opened his own brick manufacturing plant. In 1875-1876, he built the Baldwin Hotel, earning him headlines across the United States. As more southern settlers arrived in California during the 1880s, Baldwin subdivided some of his land, creating the towns of Arcadia and Monrovia in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County. Baldwin also provided many jobs to Chinese, African-American, and Native American workers, calling the Chinese laborers "the most reliable" and paying for train tickets for African-American laborers who he had hired from North Carolina. During the 1890s, his wealth diminished, and he died at the Arcadia ranch in 1909. The affluent Baldwin Hills and the Baldwin Village neighborhoods of Los Angeles are named in his honor.